Overview
- Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who wrote to Congress on Thursday, said waiting until after April 29 would risk missing the goal of implementing the Women’s Reservation Act before the 2029 general election.
- Government proposals under discussion would base delimitation on 2011 census data and expand the Lok Sabha by about 50% to 816 seats, with the 273 added seats reserved for women.
- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge replied that parties are tied up with assembly campaigns, asked for an all-party meet after April 29, and questioned what he called the government’s hurry to amend a law passed in 2023.
- Ministers led by Home Minister Amit Shah have held one-on-one meetings with several regional parties, including the Samajwadi Party, DMK, BJD, YSR Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP.
- On-the-ground gaps persist, with Kerala’s April 9 assembly race showing women as a majority of voters (about 13.9 million versus 13.2 million men) but few candidates from major parties and a historic share of women MLAs below 10%.